A fractal analysis of crack branching in borosilicate glass |
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| Authors: | Daniel P DeLellis Nicholas A Mecholsky John J Mecholsky Jr George D Quinn |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA;2. Vitreous State Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA;3. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA |
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| Abstract: | Many fractography techniques involve precise measurements of features on the fracture surface and can be difficult to perform in the field, or rapidly. Macroscopic crack branching observations offer a more robust and forgiving method of analysis, but often are not strongly correlated with standard fractography techniques. In this study, the crack branching patterns of annealed borosilicate glass disks previously fractured in biaxial tension were analyzed using fractal methods and compared with more typical fracture surface measurement techniques. The results confirm that the fractal dimension of macroscopic crack branching (called the Crack Branching Coefficient) increases with increasing failure stress, as has been shown with other brittle materials. In addition, the existence of a threshold stress previously reported was confirmed using new techniques. The findings herein can be used to further increase the fidelity of fractography-based failure analysis of brittle materials. |
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| Keywords: | crack branching fractal geometry fractography threshold stress |
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